Time to talk town meeting

Monday

Mar 5, 2018 at 12:01 AMMar 12, 2018 at 11:17 AM

Katy Ward

PROVINCETOWN — A community forum will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 15 at the Town Hall to go over some of the proposed items that will appear at the town’s Annual Town Meeting at 6 p.m., Monday, April 2. The proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2019 shows about a five percent increase from last year, according to a draft of the warrant.

Article 10: Capital improvement projects

Voters will be asked to approve $200,000 for funding and grant requests for beach nourishment and shoreline protection projects. That number was upped from $75,000 after the Jan. 4 nor’easter severely flooded areas of downtown Provincetown. Though the storm caught many residents off guard, damaging over 50 homes and businesses, town officials were not surprised. In 2014 the town won a $100,000 Coastal Zone Management grant. A risk assessment followed, performed in partnership with Woodward & Curran and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. That study mapped vulnerable areas and was completed in June 2016. In 2017, the town applied to Coastal Zone Management for beach nourishment funding, but did to get the grant. If voters okay the $200,000 price tag, the town will be able to move forward to secure vulnerable areas and mitigate future damage by moving sand around and building up dunes to limit water from coming in during high tide cycles.

Looking ahead to 2020, the Pilgrim’s First Landing Park needs a facelift prior to the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing here.

Voters will be asked to secure $200,000 in the capital articles to rehabilitate the park and prepare the underutilized area for festivities. Though the town does not have full ownership of the property, Dept. of Public Works Director Rich Waldo said he expects the state Dept. of Transportation (DOT) to hand it over to the town.

“We’re working on it now with the DOT,” Waldo said by phone on Tuesday. “We got a preliminary confirmation that it will happen. The DOT will make improvements on the roadways including the sidewalks and the guardrails…Then they will hand it over to the town and we will accept it. The DOT wants to get rid of land they don’t have to take care of anymore.”

Petitioned articles: Tiny Houses and immigration laws

Several petitioned articles are sure to cause some chatter amongst the crowd. This includes petitioned Article 17, which asks voters to, “temporarily allow the lease at a rate of $300 on a monthly basis of designated ‘lots’ on the VFW property for owner-occupied, year-round, off-grid tiny houses constructed on a trailer until a permanent plan is enacted for the VFW property with use to be reviewed and renewed annually at Town Meeting,” the article reads.

Article 15 will ask voters to allow the planning board to develop zoning and related bylaws regarding tiny house villages and article 16 will ask the town to call on Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature to take whatever action necessary to accommodate tiny houses in the Commonwealth. All three articles are submitted by Stephan Cohen and others.

And while the residents push to create tiny house communities, Alison Dwyer and others submitted petitioned Article 18 for a safe communities act. The petition asks to authorize town officials to refrain from using town funds and other resources for the enforcement of federal immigration laws, unless presented with a criminal warrant or other evidence of probable cause as required by the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Zoning bylaw amendment articles: Pot and formula businesses

Article 36, requested by the planning board will spark conversation about where marijuana joints can be located in town. The article will ask voters to approve the definition of a “marijuana establishment”, and ask voters to limit both retail and medical sales to the town commercial center (TCC) zone, which is the central portion of Commercial Street, and in the general commercial (GC) zone, on Shank Painter Road. The proposed bylaw would prohibit dispensaries from operating in residential zones.

In an attempt to make the town’s Formula Business Bylaw stronger, the planning board will request changes under Article 39. These changes are proposed after the chain pharmacy and retail shop CVS battled the town in court arguing it did not meet the criteria of the town’s bylaw and was thus granted permission to operate at the Riley brother’s T-shirt shop at 132 Bradford St. The company eventually dropped its lawsuit and made small sign design and display changes, therefore bypassing many residents’ pleas to stay out of town. The business is expected to open in the near future. The proposed changes to the bylaw will amend the location of the Formula Business Regulated District to only the GC and TCC zones.

Town Manager David Panagore said on Monday the final draft is still in the works. He hopes the public will come to the community forum next week to hear more details about the proposed 46 articles.

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